Constant speed holding device for vehicle

ABSTRACT

A wire mounting structure for a vehicle cruise control has an upper plate 20a of a connector 20 formed with a through-hole 21a and a notch 22, and a lower plate 20b formed with an enlarged hole 21b for receiving the lower end of a rod 6b.

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

The present invention relates to a constant speed holding device for avehicle and, particularly, to a mounting structure of a wiring devicefor operatively connecting an actuator constituting the constant speedholding device to a throttle link for actuating a throttle valve.

BACKGROUND ART

In a conventional constant speed holding or cruise control device ofthis type, a connecting structure for operatively connecting an actuatorto a throttle link by means of a wiring device includes a rod mounted onan end of a wire and inserted into a through-hole formed in a metalconnector which is formed by bending up a metal disc fixedly secured toa diaphram of the actuator.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1a, in the conventional connecting structure,the metal connector 2 has a rectangular upper plate 2a and a rectangularlower plate 2b which are parallel with and spaced from each other, andwhich are formed by bending out two tabs of a metal disc 1 fixedlysecured to the diaphram of the actuator. The upper and lower plates 2aand 2b are formed with circular through-holes 3a and 3b having a commoncenter axis, respectively. Therefore, the circular through-holes 3a and3b formed in the upper and the lower plates 2a and 2b are positioned incomplete coincidence with each other when viewed vertically.

A notch 4 is formed in the upper plate 2a which extends from a side edgeof the plate to the through-hole 3a. The notch 4 is used as a guidegroove for a wire to be described. On the other hand, the wire device 6includes a wire 6a having one end mounting a circular rod 6b whosediameter is suitable to be inserted into the through-holes 3a and 3b.That is, the one end of the wire 6a is fixedly secured to substantiallya center of the rod 6b such that the longitudinal axis of the rod 6b andthe axis of the wire 6a are orthogonal, as shown in FIG. 1b, and thusthe rod 6b and the wire 6a are mutually fixed to form a generally Tshape.

In assembling the wire device 6 with the connector 2, the rod 6b is heldabove the upper plate 2a with the wire 6b being arranged along the notch4 of the upper plate 2a and then inserted into the through-hole 3a ofthe upper plate 2a and into the through-hole 3b of the lower plate 2bwhile the wire 2 is allowed to pass through the notch 4. When the lowerend of the rod 6b is inserted into the through-hole 3b and the upper endof the rod is positioned at the through-hole 3a of the upper plate 2a,the wire 6a together with the rod 6b is turned by 90° to a positionshown by an imaginary line in FIG. 1a. Thus, the assembly of the wire 6aand the connector 2 is completed.

In such assembly operation there is no problem if the rod 6b is insertedalong the center axis of the through-holes 3a and 3b thereinto. However,when the rod 6b is inserted into the through-hole 3a with an inclinationwith respect to the center axis, the lower end of the rod can not beinserted into the through-hole 3b of the lower plate 2b exactly, and anedge of the lower end of the rod rides on the periphery of thethrough-hole 3b. If the wire 6a is turned to make it orthogonal to theplane of the diaphram, the wire may drop off from the connector 2 whenthe actuator is operated, or the wire 6a may be broken by repeatedoperations.

The present invention was made to solve such problems, and an objectthereof is to provide a reliable constant speed holding device for avehicle, in which the assembly and disassembly of the wire device withrespect to the connector are facilitated and the erroneous insertion ofthe rod mounted on the end of the wire is prevented.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is characterized by, in a device which controls athrottle valve by transmitting the movement of a diaphram through athrottle link, a connector fixedly secured to the diaphram of anactuator including spaced upper and lower plates, the upper plate beingformed with a circular through-hole and a notch extending to thethrough-hole, the lower plate being formed with a hole for receiving alower end of a rod, the latter hole being larger than the through-holeand including a projection area of the through-hole, the rod mounted onan end of a wire being inserted into the through-hole of the upper plateand then into the hole of the lower plate.

According to such constant speed holding device for a vehicle, the rodfixed on the end of the wire is inserted into the through-hole of theupper plate with the wire lying along the notch so that it can passtherethrough and, when the lower end of the rod is inserted into thehole of the lower plate, the wire is turned together with the rod sothat the wire is positioned orthogonally to a surface of the diaphram.Thus, the assembling operation is facilitated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1a is a perspective view of a connector mounted on an actuator in aconventional constant speed holding device,

FIG. 1b is a perspective view of an end portion of a wire device on theconnecting side thereof, FIG. 2 shows a system construction of aconstant speed holding device according to the present invention, FIG. 3is a partially cut away front view of an actuator of the constant speedholding device, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a connector of aconstant speed holding device for a vehicle, according to an embodimentof the present invention, FIG. 5 is a cross section of the connectortaken along line V--V in FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a cross section of the metalware taken along line VI--VI in FIG. 4, FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 are crosssections of modifications of a hole formed in a lower plate forreceiving a lower end of the rod, respectively, FIG. 10 is a crosssection of another embodiment of the connector, FIG. 11 is a perspectiveview of another embodiment of the connector, FIG. 12 is a cross sectiontaken along line XII--XII in FIG. 11 and FIG. 13 is a cross section ofanother embodiment of the connector.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 2 shows a system construction including the constant speed holdingdevice for a vehicle, in which A depicts an actuator, B a switch box, Ca control unit, D a meter panel of the vehicle which includes aspeedometer etc., E a vehicle engine, 7 an acceleration pedal, 8 athrottle valve and 9 a throttle link for opening and closing thethrottle valve 8. An operation link 10 connected to the accelerationpedal 7 is connected to one end of a wire 11 whose the other end isconnected to the throttle link 9. Therefore, the throttle valve 8 isopened and closed according to the depression of the acceleration pedal7 to thereby increase and decrease the vehicle speed.

A wire 6a of the aforementioned wire device 6 is also connected to thethrottle link 9 and the other end of the wire 6a is engaged with aconnector 20 fixed on a diaphram 12 of the actuator A through a circularrod 6b fixed thereto.

FIG. 3 shows the actuator A partially. In FIG. 3, 13 depicts a housingof the actuator A, 14 a spring, 15 a diaphram holder, 16 a cover, 17 avacuum port and 18 an atmospheric port. A circular metal disc 19 isfixedly secured to the diaphram 12 of the actuator A. The circular metaldisc 19 is punched around the center of the diaphram 12 and the punchedportions are bent out to form a pair of upper and lower metal plates 20aand 20b (FIG. 4) which constitute the connector 20.

The upper plate 20a of the connector 20 is formed with a circularthrough-hole 21a having a diameter large enough to slidably receive therod 6b of the wire device 6, and a notch or slot 22 extending from aperiphery of the upper plate 20a to the through-hole 21a. On the otherhand, the lower plate 20b is formed with an elongated hole 21b. The hole21b is generally ellipsoidal and a minor radius thereof is substantiallyequal to the diameter of the through-hole 21a of the upper plate 20a.The position in which the long hole is formed is determined such that amajor axis thereof is coincident with the longitudinal direction of thenotch 22 of the upper plate 20a as shown in FIG. 5 and the end of thelong hole 21b along the major axis on the side of the edge of the upperplate 20a in which the notch 22 is formed is in registration with thecorresponding end of the through-hole 21a of the upper plate.

The reason that the other end of the major axis of the long hole 21bextends over the through-hole 21a of the upper plate 20a laterally onthe opposite side is that it is natural to mount the rod 6b of the wiredevice on the connector 20 by inserting the rod 6b into the through-hole21a from the side of the notch 22 to allow the wire to pass through,and, in such case, the rod 6b may be inserted into the through-hole 21bwith the lower end of the rod being inclined such that it protrudes on aside edge remote from the side edge in which the notch 22 is formed, asshown in FIG. 6. With the long hole 21b of the lower plate, the lowerend of the rod 6b can be inserted into the long hole 21b withoutcollision with the edge of the hole, with the result that an error inmounting the rod 6b to the connector 20 hardly occurs, facilitating themounting operation.

The rod 6b of the wire device 6 is mounted on the connector 20 fixed tothe diaphram 12 of the actuator A in this manner, and thus the diaphram12 is connected operatively to the throttle link 9 through the connector20. Thus, when a solenoid valve (not shown) connected to the atmosphericport 18 of the actuator A is closed and a solenoid valve (not shown)connected to the vacuum port 17 is opened, the diaphram 12 is sucked andmoved against the force of the spring 14. As a result, the wire 6a ispulled by the connector 20 to rotate the throttle link 9.

On the other hand, when the vacuum port 17 is closed and the atmosphericport 18 is opened, the diaphram 12 is returned to an initial position bythe spring 14, so that the throttle link 9 having a spring biasingreturns to an initial position. In this manner, the opening of thethrottle valve 8 is maintained at a desired value corresponding to themovement of the diaphram 12 of the actuator A, so that it is possible torun the vehicle at a constant speed.

The shape and position of the hole to be formed in the lower plate 20bof the connector 20 is not limited to those mentioned previously, andthose shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 are also usable.

That is, FIGS. 7 to 9 are cross sections of the circular disc 19 whenviewed from the side of the lower plate as in FIG. 5, respectively. InFIG. 7, a long hole 31 for receiving the lower end of the rod has acenter common to the through-hole 21a of the upper plate so thatopposite end portions of the long hole 31 on the major axis extend inopposite directions over the through-hole 21a.

In the embodiment in FIG. 8, a hole 41 formed in the lower plate 20b forreceiving the lower end of the rod is rectangular with two sides thereofextending in the direction of the notch 22 circumscribing thethrough-hole 21a and the other two sides thereof orthogonal to the firsttwo sides extending outside of the through-hole 21a.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the through-hole 21a is circular andinscribes a hole 51 having a diameter larger than that of thethrough-hole 21a and formed in the lower plate 20b for receiving thelower end of the rod at one side remote from the circular disc 19.

Further, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 10, a notch 62 formed in theupper plate extends along a line forming an angle of θ with a lineparallel to the surface of the circular disc 19. The positional relationbetween the through-hole 21a of the upper plate and a hole 61 formed inthe lower plate 20b for receiving the lower end of the rod is basicallythe same as that of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, the longhole 61 formed in the lower plate 20b for receiving the lower end of therod is arranged such that the major axis thereof extends along the notch62 and the through-hole 21a inscribes one end of the long hole 62.

The holes for receiving the lower end of the rod shown in FIGS. 7 to 9,respectively, make a smooth insertion of the lower end of the rodpossible even if the rod is inserted while being inclined to prevent anerroneous insertion from occuring. The same effect can be obtained bythe embodiment shown in FIG. 10.

FIGS. 11 and 12 show another embodiment of the present invention, inwhich a hole 71 is formed in the lower plate 20b for receiving the lowerend of the rod, which is larger than the through-hole 21a and includes aprojection area of the through-hole 21a. The hole 71 is a modifiedrectangular having one side 72 remote from the diaphram curved such thatthe through-hole 21a inscribes a curved portion of the side 72 at apoint on a center line 73 of the hole 71 which is orthogonal to thediaphram surface.

With this construction, the hole 71 formed in the lower plate 20b of theconnector can prevent an erroneous insertion of the rod similarly to theprevious embodiments since it is larger than the through-hole 21a of theupper plate 20a. Further, since the side of the hole 71 (the side 72remote from the diaphram 12) is curved such that it is registeredpartially with the periphery of the through-hole at the point on thecenter line 73 of the through-hole orthogonal to the diaphram 12, theupper and the lower ends of the rod 6b immediately contact with theperipheries of the through-hole 21a of the upper plate 20a and the hole71 of the lower plate 20b when a pulling force is applied by thediaphram 12 to the wire 6a. Thus, it is possible to apply a stablepulling force to the wire 6a.

Although the hole 71 formed in the lower plate for receiving the lowerend of the rod is a modified rectangle, the same effect can be obtainedby a hole 81 having rounded corners as shown in FIG. 13.

We claim:
 1. A cruise control device for a vehicle, including anactuator (A) having a diaphragm (12) and controlling a throttle valve(8) by transmitting movements of the diaphragm to a throttle link (9),comprising: a metal connector (19, 20) fixedly secured to the diaphragmand having an upper plate (20a) formed with an exclusively circularthrough-hole (21a) and a slot (22) extending from a side edge of saidupper plate to said circular through-hole, and a lower plate (20b)disposed parallel to said upper plate and spaced therefrom, and formedwith an aperture for receiving a lower end of a circular cylindrical rod(6b), said aperture being larger than said circular through-hole andincluding a projected area of said through-hole perpendicular to saidlower plate, and a wire device (6) including a wire (6a) and said rodfixedly connected to one end of said wire, one end of said rod beinginserted into said through-hole of said upper plate and another,opposite end of said rod being inserted into said aperture of said lowerplate, with said wire passing through said slot during insertion, andthe other end of said wire being connected to the throttle link.
 2. Thecruise control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said apertureformed in said lower plate is an elongate aperture extending along adirection of said notch.
 3. The cruise control device as claimed inclaim 1, wherein a side (72) of said aperture formed in said lower plateand remote from said diaphragm is curved such that a curved portionthereof is in registry with a periphery of said through-hole at a pointon a center line (73) of said through-hole orthogonal to said diaphragm.